# Parle pattern matching

Parle supports regex matching similar to flex. Also supported are the following POSIX character sets: `[:alnum:]`, `[:alpha:]`, `[:blank:]`, `[:cntrl:]`, `[:digit:]`, `[:graph:]`, `[:lower:]`, `[:print:]`, `[:punct:]`, `[:space:]`, `[:upper:]`, `[:xdigit:]`.

The Unicode character classes are currently not enabled by default, pass --enable-parle-utf32 to make them available. A particular encoding can be mapped with a correctly constructed regex. For example, to match the EURO symbol encoded in UTF-8, the regular expression `[\xe2][\x82][\xac]` can be used. The pattern for an UTF-8 encoded string could be `[ -\x7f]{+}[\x80-\xbf]{+}[\xc2-\xdf]{+}[\xe0-\xef]{+}[\xf0-\xff]+`.

## Character representations

Character representations
Sequence | Description
--- | ---
\a | Alert (bell).
\b | Backspace.
\e | ESC character, \x1b.
\n | Newline.
\r | Carriage return.
\f | Form feed, \x0c.
\t | Horizontal tab, \x09.
\v | Vertical tab, \x0b.
\oct | Character specified by a three-digit octal code.
\xhex | Character specified by a hex code.
\cchar | Named control character.

## Character classes

Character classes
Sequence | Description
--- | ---
[...] | A single character listed or contained within a listed range. Ranges can be combined with the `{+}` and `{-}` operators. For example `[a-z]{+}[0-9]` is the same as `[0-9a-z]` and `[a-z]{-}[aeiou]` is the same as `[b-df-hj-np-tv-z]`.
[^...] | A single character not listed and not contained within a listed range.
. | Any character, default `[^\n].`
\d | Digit character, `[0-9]`.
\D | Non-digit character, `[^0-9]`.
\s | White space character, `[ \t\n\r\f\v]`.
\S | Non-white space character, `[^ \t\n\r\f\v]`.
\w | Word character, `[a-zA-Z0-9_]`.
\W | Non-word character, `[^a-zA-Z0-9_]`.

## Unicode character classes

Unicode character classes
Sequence | Description
--- | ---
\p{C} | Other.
\p{Cc} | Other, control.
\p{Cf} | Other, format.
\p{Co} | Other, private use.
\p{Cs} | Other, surrogate.
\p{L} | Letter.
\p{LC} | Letter, cased.
\p{Ll} | Letter, lowercase.
\p{Lm} | Letter, modifier.
\p{Lo} | Letter, other.
\p{Lt} | Letter, titlecase.
\p{Lu} | Letter, uppercase.
\p{M} | Mark.
\p{Mc} | Mark, space combining.
\p{Me} | Mark, enclosing.
\p{Mn} | Mark, nonspacing.
\p{N} | Number.
\p{Nd} | Number, decimal digit.
\p{Nl} | Number, letter.
\p{No} | Number, other.
\p{P} | Punctuation.
\p{Pc} | Punctiation, connector.
\p{Pd} | Punctuation, dash.
\p{Pe} | Punctuation, close.
\p{Pf} | Punctuation, final quote.
\p{Pi} | Punctuation, initial quote.
\p{Po} | Punctuation, other.
\p{Ps} | Punctuation, open.
\p{S} | Symbol.
\p{Sc} | Symbol, currency.
\p{Sk} | Symbol, modifier.
\p{Sm} | Symbol, math.
\p{So} | Symbol, other.
\p{Z} | Separator.
\p{Zl} | Separator, line.
\p{Zp} | Separator, paragraph.
\p{Zs} | Separator, space.

These character classes are only available, if the option --enable-parle-utf32 was passed at the compilation time.

## Alternation and repetition

Alternation and repetition
Sequence | Greedy | Description
--- | --- | ---
...|... | - | Try sub-patterns in alternation.
* | yes | Match 0 or more times.
+ | yes | Match 1 or more times.
? | yes | Match 0 or 1 times.
{n} | no | Match exactly n times.
{n,} | yes | Match at least n times.
{n,m} | yes | Match at least n times but no more than m times.
*? | no | Match 0 or more times.
+? | no | Match 1 or more times.
?? | no | Match 0 or 1 times.
{n,}? | no | Match at least n times.
{n,m}? | no | Match at least n times but no more than m times.
{MACRO} | - | Include the regex MACRO in the current regex.

## Anchors

Anchors
Sequence | Description
--- | ---
^ | Start of string or after a newline.
$ | End of string or before a newline.

## Grouping

Grouping
Sequence | Description
--- | ---
(...) | Group a regular expression to override default operator precedence.
(?r-s:pattern) | Apply option r and omit option s while interpreting pattern. Options may be zero or more of the characters i, s, or x. `i` means case-insensitive. `-i` means case-sensitive. `s` alters the meaning of `.` to match any character whatsoever. `-s` alters the meaning of `.` to match any character except `\n`. `x` ignores comments and whitespace in patterns. Whitespace is ignored unless it is backslash-escaped, contained within `""s`, or appears inside a character range. These options can be applied globally at the rules level by passing a combination of the bit flags to the lexer.
(?# comment ) | Omit everything within (). The first ) character encountered ends the pattern. It is not possible for the comment to contain a ) character. The comment may span lines.

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